by Göran Rahm, Uppsala, Sweden
written for World Concertina Day 2022
Introduction
Neither concertinas from Britain nor Konzertinas from Germany have ever been widespread in the folk music scene in Sweden. In the early days of squeezeboxes, melodeons and later one-row and two-row accordions were dominating. Concertinas came to Sweden primarily with the Salvation Army (SA), which settled there in 1882. Though brass ensembles dominated SA musical activity, concertinas, used by the Booth family, also became a musical emblem early on. In the 1930s almost every SA cadet had some contact with concertinas, but in the 1960s accordions and guitars took over.
I had grandparents in the SA, so I first saw and heard a concertina when I was five years old. When I was 30 I had an injury disabling my right arm, making violin fiddling with just the left even poorer. The concertina came up as a possible consolation, but in the late 1970s it was hard to find one in Sweden. I was provided with a letter of recommendation from the SA Music Department in Stockholm and I got my first concertina at the SA Headquarters in London. I looked up the prominent SA players Bramwell Thornett and Eric Russell, met Frank Butler and visited ICA meetings. It was then suggested that I should try recruiting ICA members or initiate a Swedish ”branch” when getting back, and I started searching for concertina players all around the country. About 40 were found and in 1981 the Swedish Concertina Society (Svenska Concertina-sällskapet) was founded, with 30 members.
Establishment of the Swedish Concertina Society band in 1981
A concertina orchestra had never existed in Sweden before.
In the Salvation Army, concertinas mostly were used individually for song accompaniment or for small combos.
A dozen of the Swedish Concertina Society members expressed interest in forming a pure concertina band. All but two were retired SA officers. Some were skilled wind instrument players and some had been composers of mission music and leaders of brass orchestras, but none had played the concertina regularly for a long time when we met.
Instruments and early obstacles
Most members had treble English concertinas, some tenor-trebles and some Crane/Triumph duets. After some years a bass was added. Tuning pitches varied, most were a435 and the others a440 (439). Some of the members had almost stopped using their concertinas, due to aging or to health-related problems in holding and fingering the instruments These problems were met by changes to wider buttons and modifications of handles and playing methods. The pitch matter was dealt with by a gradual re-pitching or replacement of instruments or playing in unison or octaves, as described below.
Music and arrangements
The group initially followed the practice of British concertina bands, including those of SA, where music and scores were copied from brass band arrangements. But due to limited access to proper band instruments, mixed tunings, not having a conductor, and a lack of experience with the special problems involved in playing in a large concertina group, the early results were not very promising.
Nevertheless, we had our first public performance, at an informal meeting for the elderly. Since we were aware of the problems caused by sitting beside each other and hearing only the sound from the nearby player and not yourself, we had requested enough space to sit spread out. But when we arrived the room was crowded, leaving just enough room for our knees and nine chairs in a line tight together up against a wall. We played a couple of easy pieces by Haydn and Mozart but I pretty soon realized it was likely a complete cacophonic disaster. A listener said afterwards maliciously: ”Fascinating…some atonal stuff was it?”
We learned a few other things. Since concertinas, unlike brass instruments, sound rather the same independent of size and model, having scores with more than four or five parts can easily get muddled. We consequently picked four-part arrangements. When there were more players we doubled the parts. Combining instruments in different pitches and playing those in unison or octave gave us a sound a bit like a ”wet-tuned” accordion, so the problem from different pitches was reduced. Sometimes a piece sounded even ”better” than with only concert pitch instruments!
After several years of trials and failures we were fortunate to get a new member: Erling Grönstedt, one of the Swedish ”accordion kings” who had enormous experience in arranging, composing, and teaching, and had decades of band leadership. With his initiative most brass band scores were replaced by four part choir-type arrangements and simplified so that a new piece could be played roughly at first sight. This increased our own pleasure and hopefully our standard of performance as well, since we seldom rehearsed very much but liked to play new pieces.
Band meetings and public performances
For 30 years, three to ten band members met once a month except during some holiday vacations. A 1996 meeting is documented in the photo at the top of this page. There were two or three public performances every year in elder care homes, senior assemblies, congregational social gatherings, and a couple of times at church services. In 2001, four members participated in a celebration for squeezeboxes at the Musical Museum in Stockholm.
Unfortunately, well-prepared recordings were never made. After a brief rehearsal, about a dozen pieces and some interviews were recorded in 2001 for a documentary on national radio program P2 on a weekly program for “Dragspel” (accordion) that was on the air for several years. Three of them are included here: the march “Song of the Regiment”; ”Blommande sköna dalar”, a song by Henry Palm; and ”Coquette”, a tango by Renato Bui.
Concluding words
Playing for people who hardly ever have an opportunity to get live entertainment can be very rewarding and amusing for oneself too. (See the audience comments from an afternoon tea.) Sharing musical joy with good friends for so long a time has been a fantastic gift. As the ”last man standing” I am sadly left with lots of instruments and arrangements, but primarily with lots of pleasant memories being a great part of life’s adventures.